Claremont police issue warning on call forwarding scam

An ongoing “call forwarding scam” is occurring in the Inland

Empire, according to the Claremont Police Department.

The scam occurs when the victim receives a collect phone call

from a person posing as a telephone technician, or a jail or

custody officer, stating that a relative of the victim has been

arrested and needs immediate assistance. The caller/scammer

will then ask the victim to dial *72 on the phone dial followed

by a phone number in order to reach the purported “relative.”

*72 is a call-forwarding feature that in these circumstances

will allow the scammer, usually a prison inmate not known to

the victim, to speak with another party while the charges for the

call are incurred by the victim. Prison inmates are given access

to phones, but are restricted to making collect phone calls.

During these calls, the scammers can also compromise

voicemail systems in order to make other fraudulent calls or

change account passwords.

Claremont Police offer the following recommendations

should you receive one of the calls:

• Do not accept collect calls from an unknown person or

source.

• Always change your default password provided by your

telephone service.

• Choose a unusual or difficult password of at least 6 digits

or numbers, and change your password if you believe it has

been compromised. Do not use obvious passwords such as

date of birth or social security number.

• Check your account regularly for fraudulent activity and

check your personal greeting to ensure that is it indeed your

own outgoing message.